Bracelet



. (No Model.)

. W. H. BALL.

. BRACELET.

No 245,990. Patented Aug. 2.3;1881.

Fi 2. A 3

' Invefilbim- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. BALL, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

BRACELET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 245,990, dated August 23, 1881. Application filed June 28, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. BALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improveinent in Bracelets, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of bracelets that consists of two hinged segments, one of which is provided with a spring-pressed catch or clasp and the other with an open mouth within which the spring-pressed clasp engages, and which segmental bracelet is prevented from falling off the wrist by means of a spring-blade which plays within a sheath in one of the segments. This class of bracelet is shown in Letters Patent granted to myself and Thomas Barnard, dated September 13, 1870, and numbered 107,325. Since the issue of said patent there have been many attempts to improve the device therein described.

In practice I have found in bracelets made in exact accordance with said patent, the spring-blade being fastened in a slot formed on the upper plate of the spring-catch, that the blade and the spring-catch,wh en the bracelet is being closed, do not move in the same arc of a circle. The blade, being made necessarily of spring metal, is apt to bend, and does not guide the catch directly into the opposite month. The consequence is that the front-end edges of the catch impinge against the solid part of the other segment. It is then necessary to twist or bend the bracelet so as to lead the catch into the mouthpiece and properly adjust the two parts.

The object of my improvement is to remedy this objectionable feature.

Referring to the drawings that accompany this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate like parts, Figure 1 represents a bracelet partially open embodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents enlarged detail end and side views of the catch, showing the end connection of the blade thereto. Fig. 3 represents the open mouth-piece.

My improvement consists in making the upper spring-plate, a, of the catch Ain one con tinuous piece, inclined from the rear to the front, and soldering it at each end of its outer front edges, so as toleave a central open slot, ed. The front edges of the upper spring-plate. a, and lower flat plate, a, extend outwardly the same length, forming a flush finished straight edge without any break of the upper plate, a. The blade B is inserted within the slot or, and is rigidly fastened thereon with solder.

It will thus be seen that the upper and lower plates of the spring-catch A, constructed as described,formatwo-part wedge-shaped clamp firmly grasping the immovable end of. the blade B between them, and when the two segments are being closed the spring clampingcatch A, with the intermediate end ofthe blade B, is guided direct within the mouth-piece O on the opposite segment of the bracelet.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim is- In a segmental bracelet having sliding blade B, the spring-pressed catch A, having upper inclined plate, a, and lower flat plate, a, the two inner front edges of said plates extending outwardly to an unbroken straight edge, in combination with a sliding blade, B, rigidly clamped within the spring-pressed catch A, adapted to guide the catch within the en gagin g mouth U, substantially as described.

WM. H. BALL.

Witnesses:

THOMAS GREASON, EUGENE MACDONALD. 

